Governor Signs Off On Scripps Deal

County Told To Start Recruiting Biotech Firms

Tallahassee — Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet approved a lease agreement Tuesday for The Scripps Research Institute that keeps the high-priced catalyst for Florida's biotech future in Palm Beach County.

The vote finalized a key part of a long-delayed deal to use about $600 million in taxpayer money to build and help operate headquarters and research labs for Scripps at Florida Atlantic University in Jupiter.

Two weeks after the California-based institute threatened to walk away from a deal with Palm Beach County following construction delays, Bush and the Cabinet on Tuesday approved a 99-year lease for Scripps to use 30 acres dedicated to the university.

When word of the Cabinet approval spread at a Palm Beach County Commission meeting, Commissioner Burt Aaronson sang Happy Days Are Here Again.

Construction work could start by the fall.

Up until the night before the vote, county officials still were completing arrangements to find at least 8 million square feet of space to accommodate labs, hospitals and other spinoff businesses intended to follow Scripps. Bush was concerned the Jupiter location the county picked didn't have enough land for the spinoff businesses and threatened to vote against the contract if his requirements weren't met.

Bush helped recruit Scripps to Florida in 2003 with the hope of attracting a new, high-paying industry.

With a site secured for Scripps, Bush on Tuesday told Palm Beach County officials gathered in Tallahassee for the vote to follow through on recruiting the cluster of spin-off businesses.

"It's your vision, so go implement it," said Bush, who is in his final year in office. "I'm out the door."

Several approvals still remain, although they are more formalities than roadblocks. Scripps' trustees must approve the agreement Monday. Then the Scripps Florida Funding Corp., which oversees the state investment, must approve the county's cluster plan on May 25. In June, Scripps and the Funding Corp. are expected to finalize a new business plan for the Abacoa site.

Monday night, an agreement was finalized with owners of the neighboring Briger property in Palm Beach Gardens to reserve an additional 100 acres for biotech development.

"I am excited. There's been a lot of hard work to get to the point where there is something concrete," Bush said about the cluster plan. "I'm comfortable now that that's the case."

The deal approved Tuesday calls for Scripps to lease 30 acres from FAU. The county pays for construction.

"I guess I can finally smile," Jupiter Mayor Karen Golonka said after the lease was approved. "It might have been painful, but it was good in the end."

Tuesday's vote wasn't just about a lease, said Shannon LaRocque, the county's Scripps manager.

"It's about the continual approval of one of the largest economic development projects in the history of Florida," LaRocque said.

With a lease deal in hand, county officials now can focus on finishing design plans for the project and getting permits to start construction. Then comes decades of trying to persuade other companies to follow Scripps' lead, she said.

Economic development opportunities coupled with the chance for FAU students to work with Scripps scientists made the deal worth the wait, university President Frank Brogan said.

"I was 16 when this project started," Bush's former lieutenant governor joked.

Bush and county leaders in 2003 used the promise of taxpayer-backed incentives to persuade the drug-producing company to move to Palm Beach County, with the hope that more high-tech businesses and high-paying jobs would follow.

Environmental concerns prompted a federal judge in November to stop construction of Scripps on the county's 1,919-acre Mecca Farms property west of Palm Beach Gardens. In February the County Commission decided to move Scripps east to Jupiter .

Stalled contract negotiations with the county over job-creation requirements for the Jupiter location prompted Scripps yet again to threaten to leave. The two sides reached an 11th-hour agreement May 2, after Bush said he would support the state paying the county up to $100 million if Scripps left before the end of the contract.

The governor and Cabinet, which serve as the state's board of trustees, determined that allowing Scripps to use land dedicated for university expansion was a justifiable public use because of the educational and research opportunities the non-profit corporation offered.

Palm Beach Gardens Mayor Joseph Russo said north county communities are committed to help create the cluster of biotech businesses envisioned in the Scripps deal.

Russo said he recently met with a landowner willing to dedicate 60 acres to biotech development.

"We are going to far exceed it," Russo said of Bush's requirement for 8 million square feet of space for biotech businesses.